It has been a great year for athletes in West Texas competing for an Olympic medal.

Friday morning at Stade de France, Nigerian sprinter Rosemary Chukwuma, who recently wrapped her time as a runner for the Red Raiders, advanced to Saturday’s semifinals in the Women’s 100m. As she crossed the line at 11.26 seconds, the third-best in her heat, she advanced to the next round.

Chukwuma waved a “Guns Up” in front of the cameras, all to be seen in front of the world. Her semifinal are scheduled for 12:59 p.m. CST. Chukwuma also ran for South Plains College from 2020 to 2021.

400m sprinter Vernon Norwood, who competed for SPC in 2012-13, became a part of the world record-setting United States 4x400m Mixed Relay Team. The former Texan/LSU Tiger ran the opening leg of the heat, before handing off the baton to veteran Shamier Little. From there, Bryce Deadmon and Kaylyn Brown finished the race in a record time of 3:07.41.

The American team will set out to defend its 2020 gold in Saturday’s final at 1:55 p.m. CST.

Former Angelo State Rambelle and Italian discus thrower Daisy Osakue advanced to Monday’s final with a throw of 63.11 meters. While she did not reach the automatic qualifying standard of 64.00 meters achieved by seven others, her toss was enough to move her back into the finals as the third best at-large. In the Tokyo 2020 Games, she finished 12th.

Other Texas Tech athletes saw their Olympic journey end Friday. In the women’s high jump qualifying round, current Red Raider Temitope Adeshina (Nigeria) finished tied for 19th at 1.88 meters. She was only .05 meters away from making the cut. In the women’s triple jump, her Tech teammate Ruta Lasmane (Latvia) finished 21st overall with a best jump of 13.76 meters.

A list of all the West Texas athletes:

Soccer:

• Janine Beckie, Canada, (Texas Tech 2012-15), Women’s Tournament- Tokyo 2020 Gold Medalist

Shooting:

• Ryann Phillips, United States, (Borden County, Texas A&M- Corpus Christi), Women’s Trap

Golf:

• Ludvig Åberg, Sweden, (Texas Tech 2019-23), Men’s Tournament
• Mito Pereira, Chile, (Texas Tech 2014-15), Men’s Tournament- Tied for 4th at the Tokyo 2020 Games
• Shannon Tan, Singapore, (Texas Tech 2022-23), Women’s Tournament

Track & Field:

• Temitope Adeshina, Nigeria, (Texas Tech 2023-), Women’s High Jump
• Antoine Andrews, Bahamas, (Texas Tech 2023-), Men’s 100m Hurdles
• Rosemary Chukwuma, Nigeria, (Texas Tech 2022-24), Women’s 100m Sprint, 4x100m Relay
• Oskar Edlund, Sweden, (Texas Tech 2021-), Men’s 400m Hurdles
• Andrew Hudson, Jamaica, (Texas Tech 2016-19), Men’s 200m Sprint
• Alaysha Johnson, United States, (Texas Tech 2019), Women’s 100m Hurdles
• Terrence Jones, Bahamas, (Texas Tech 2021-23), Men’s 200m Sprint
• Fred Kerley, United States, (South Plains College 2013-15), Men’s 100m Sprint, Men’s 4x100m Relay- Tokyo 2020 Silver Medalist, Men’s 100m Sprint
• Rūta Lasmane, Latvia, (Texas Tech 2022-24), Women’s Triple Jump
• Courtney Lindsey, United States, (Texas Tech, 2021-23), Men’s Relay Pool
• Monae’ Nichols, United States, (Texas Tech 2021-22), Women’s Long Jump
• Vernon Norwood, United States, (South Plains College 2012-13), Men’s 4x400m Relay- Tokyo 2020 Gold Medalist, Mixed 4x400m Relay
• Ruth Usoro, Nigeria, (Texas Tech 2020-22), Women’s Long Jump
• Also competing for the United States are Bryce Hoppel of Midland (Men’s 800m), and Taliyah Brooks of Wichita Falls (Women’s Heptathlon)
• Benjamin Azamati (West Texas A&M 2020-23) will race for Ghana in the Men’s 100m Sprint, and Men’s 4x100m Relay, Angelo State’s Daisy Osakue (2017-21) will compete in Women’s Discus for Italy.  Both made their Olympic debuts three years ago in Tokyo.
• Fatoumata Kobo of Angelo State (2023-) will also represent Italy, competing in the Women’s 4x400m Relay.